The present invention relates to pipelines, and more particularly, to a system for improving pipeline safety by detecting and locating third party impacts to a pipeline that may cause damage to the pipeline and informing operators about the third party impacts in a timely fashion.
Damage from third party impacts to pipelines is considered the number one cause of pipeline failures. Pipeline operators need to know about pipeline impact events in order to investigate and determine appropriate responses to such events. With real time knowledge of such an event, a pipeline operator is more likely to be able to reach the site of the damage before the third party has left and is more likely to recover damages from the third party. Such knowledge also enables operators to effect timely repairs to any damage that, if left untreated, could lead to future failures with potentially much greater financial, safety and environmental consequences.
Impact detection methods, such as periodic surveying of pipelines, generally need to be carried out too often, or are too costly to retrofit to provide a truly effective means to safeguard against third party impacts. While many solutions have been developed for leak detection, no one has tried to provide a self contained, real time impact detection system that that does not require landline or cell connectivity for communication.